People worried loved ones' organs being sold

People worried loved ones' organs being sold

Leo Wahyudi S, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

When Sony heard his older brother, Purwanto, who was stabbed to
death on June 11, was going to be given an autopsy, he was
horrified. The rest of Purwanto's family was just as horrified,
and demanded that they be given Purwanto's body immediately so
they could take it home for burial.

This was a fairly typical reaction here, where the word
autopsy has all sorts of negative connotations.

"We were afraid the hospital would remove Purwanto organs
during the autopsy. We have heard that hospitals sell the organs
to make money," said Sony's uncle.

Autopsies are usually performed on people who have died of
unnatural causes. This includes victims of traffic accidents,
suicide, murder, workplace accidents and poisoning.

Among these categories, murder tops the list, followed by
suicide and traffic accidents.

Normally, the brains, lungs and heart of the corpses are
examined to help determine the cause of death.

Many people who object to autopsies being performed on their
loved ones do not understand their importance in determining the
cause of death, which is vital for the work of the police and the
courts.

According to the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital (RSCM)'s
forensic department, between January and June of this year 22
percent of the 1,027 bodies sent to the hospital's morgue were
taken home by their families before an autopsy could be
performed.

The head of the forensic department, Agus Purwadianto,
vigorously denied that organs were removed and sold following
autopsies.

"It is a misperception on the part of the public that forensic
doctors remove the organs and keep them for their own benefit,"
he said, adding that the organs in most bodies that eventually
made it onto the autopsy table were already decayed and of no use
to anyone.

Marius Widjajarta, a senior medical doctor and the chief of
the Indonesian Health Consumers Empowerment Foundation, also
denied that organs were sold following autopsies.

"I can guarantee that the rumors are not true," he said.

He also denied that hospitals sold unclaimed corpses to
medical schools in need of bodies for their students to practice
on.

Samy, a second-year student at the University of Indonesia's
School of Medicine, said students always worked with cadavers
that had been dead for some time.

"When we study forensics, we usually put back all the organs
into the body and return the cadaver to the family," Samy said.

Marius emphasized that taking unclaimed bodies even for
educational purposes was not done lightly, and procedures were
always followed.

"Claiming these cadavers can only be done according to strict
procedures that have been jointly set up by medical schools and
hospitals," he said.

The head of the morgue at RSCM, Mardiyono, said the morgue
received about 40 corpses per month that went unclaimed.

The City Cemetery Agency is responsible for burying these
unclaimed corpses either at the Pondok Rangon cemetery in East
Jakarta or the Tegal Alur cemetery in West Jakarta.